Hayer’s hat trick lifts Tips to a 6-5 win

Hayer scored a hat trick, including the game winner with less than two minutes remaining, as the Tips held off the Vancouver Giants 6-5 Friday night in a crazy back-and-forth Western Hockey League game.

Playing in his hometown, Hayer scored once in each period, including the tally with 1:59 remaining in the third period that snapped a 5-5 tie. It was Hayer’s first career hat trick.

Brayden Low, Kohl Bauml and Austin Adam also scored goals for Everett (9-2-2-0), which won its third straight. Joshua Winquist chipped in with three assists. Austin Lotz earned the win in goal with 27 saves.

Brett Kulak and Cain Franson each scored twice to lead Vancouver (3-8-1-1), which had a two-game winning streak snapped. Travis McEvoy scored the other Giants goal, and Payton Lee made 21 saves for Vancouver.

Friday’s game saw the score tied four times. Everett led 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4, only to see Vancouver tie it each time.

But it was Hayer who had the final say. With the game seemingly destined for overtime, he raced into the offensive zone, cut toward the middle and fired into the corner to give the Tips the victory.

Vancouver dominated the opening minutes and grabbed the lead just 3:26 into the game when Kulak put in a rebound.

But Everett recovered and scored three straight to go ahead 3-1. Hayer converted a nice feed from Bauml on the power play at 6:30, Low put in a rebound off the rush at 9:28, and Bauml did a good job controlling a rebound and scoring at 16:03.

The Giants got back within one with 13 seconds remaining in the first as Kulak scored straight off a face-off to make it 3-2.

The back-and-fourth action continued in the second period as the teams traded goals to finish the period 5-4. Twice Vancouver tied it, only for Everett to regain the lead within a minute.

First, Franson roofed a shot from in close on the power play at 6:54. But 40 seconds later Adam put a shot from the point in through traffic. Franson tied it again on the power play at 13:09, tipping home a feed from Carter Popoff. But this time if was 56 seconds before the Tips regained the lead, Hayer with a tip-in on Tyler Sandhu’s feed.

McEvoy banged in a rebound 5:56 into the third to tie the game once more, but the Giants couldn’t stop Hayer from winning it.